A String of Harold Arlen

AllMusic Review
by AllMusic

As a male vocalist, Tony Bennett's open, emotional style is particularly suited to the blues-inflected songs of Harold Arlen, composer of "Over The Rainbow" and other songs more associated with Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters and other strong female singers. This 1960 session follows Bennett's masterly rendition of three Arlen songs on the previous year's TONY SINGS FOR TWO, an excellent solo recital accompanied only by Ralph Sharon's piano. On HAROLD ARLEN, arranger Glenn Osser provides ethereal string settings which lend Bennett's interpretations a somewhat spiritual cast on famous songs like "Rainbow" and "Come Rain Or Come Shine" as well as others not so well-known like the touching "House Of Flowers" with lyrics by Truman Capote.